Navigate:

Hillary Clinton backs progress in Myanmar

Clinton's trip is the first by a U.S. secretary of state to Myanmar in more than half a century. |
Reuters
Close

Successive military regimes canceled 1990 elections that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won. She has said she plans to run in upcoming elections.

“We and many other nations are quite hopeful that these flickers of progress … will be ignited into a movement for change that will benefit the people of the country,” Clinton said. President Barack Obama used the same description - “flickers of progress” - when he announced he was sending Clinton to Myanmar.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Clinton was greeted at Naypyidaw’s small airfield by a deputy foreign minister, several other officials and a large contingent of international press who were granted rare visas to cover her visit. But her presence here appeared to take second stage to the expected arrival Thursday of the prime minister of Belarus and his wife, to whom two large welcoming signs were erected at the airport and the road into the city. Belarus is often criticized for its poor human rights record and is subject to U.S. sanctions similar to those Myanmar is under.

No signs welcoming Clinton were visible as her motorcade bounced from the airport to the city on a bumpy cement road that was largely devoid of vehicles, with traffic police stopping small and scattered groups of cars, trucks and motorbikes at intersections.

Officials say Clinton will be seeking assurances from Myanmar’s leaders that they will sign an agreement with the U.N. nuclear watchdog that will permit unfettered access to suspected nuclear sites. The United States and other Western nations suspect Myanmar has sought and received nuclear advice along with ballistic missile technology from North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions. An American official said missiles and missile technology are of primary concern but signs of “nascent” nuclear activity are also worrying.

The Obama administration also hopes to loosen Chinese influence in a region where America and its allies are wary of China’s rise. Myanmar has historic ties with China, but has pulled back from a major dam project sought by China amid signs the new leaders are sensitive to criticism that China is taking unfair advantage of its much smaller but resource-rich neighbor.